>Short then is the time which every man lives, and small the nook of the earth where he lives; and short too the longest posthumous fame, and even this only continued by a succession of poor human beings, who will very soon die, and who know not even themselves, much less him who died long ago.
Was he being callous?
The essence of pessimism isn't bitterness; it's detachment. The Stoics were all about detachment.That's all.
>>574891
>Was he being callous?
no, just stoic :^)
>>574891
No, just gloomy. And he's still mostly right.
Marcus Aurelius was actually autistic.
>>574891
No just telling you to make the most of what you have, learn/do all you can, educate yourself and don't be ignorant
>Hippocrates after curing many diseases himself fell sick and died.
>The Chaldaei foretold the deaths of many, and then fate caught them too.
>Alexander, and Pompeius, and Caius Caesar, after so often completely destroying whole cities, and in battle cutting to pieces many ten thousands of cavalry and infantry, themselves too at last departed from life.
>Heraclitus, after so many speculations on the conflagration of the universe, was filled with water internally and died smeared all over with mud.
>And lice destroyed Democritus; and other lice killed Socrates.
>What means all this? Thou hast embarked, thou hast made the voyage, thou art come to shore; get out.
This makes us feel so small, though.
He is just saying that life and reputation are short and meaningless, so you shouldn't be concerned with both, but with what matters.
>You will soon forget everything. Everything will soon forget you.
>How many with whom I entered this world have already gone.
>Death is a rest from the contradictions of sense peception, from being jerked like a puppet by the strings of desire, from the minds analysis and the service of the flesh.
Was he depressed?
>>577052
He is preparing himself to die and saying that it is OK. He had an illness while he wrote this.
Epictetus and Seneca are better at explaining Stoicism.
>>577061
What illness did he have? I'm not a studied man, I'm still at book 9. of Meditations.
>The court of Augustus: wife, daughter, grandsons, stepsons, sister, Agrippa, kinsmen, household, friends, Areius, Maecenas, doctors, priests- the whole court is dead. Then pass the others, the death not of an individual but of a whole family, such as that of the Pompeys; and the inscription found upon tombstones: "The last of his clan." Reflect how anxious the ancestors were to leave one to succeed them, yet unavoidably there comes one who is the last, and so again the death of a whole clan.
>>574891
Joke's on him, we still remember him and his words, thus proving him wrong.
>>574891
>Oh woe is me, such terrible curse is my life, such tedium and so many chores, I grow so tired of this poor life and my many struggles.
t. the richest and most powerful man of his time
>think little of thy flesh: blood, bones, and a skin; a pretty piece of knit and twisted work, consisting of nerves, veins and arteries; think no more of it, than so.
was this his best quote?
>>577080
t. uneducated buffoon
>>577077
Compared to the history of the entire universe, we're pretty much living in the same time as him.
And what about the countless billions in our history who didn't "shone in the wondrous way"? Do we remember one person who lived their life in 1916?
>>577082
>When another blames you or hates you, or people voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of people they are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.
Basically when people tell you that you are wrong, ignore them and pretend you aren't. Good advice for the emperor of the Roman Empire, not so good for the average man. That's how all his work is.
>>577094
To be honest, all his work was made only for himself, not your average man.
>Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
>If it is not right do not do it; if it is not true do not say it.
So never say anything, because you cant be true?
>>574902
That's not pessimism, it's apathy.
Pessimists=downers. Optimists=uppers.
>>577108
Pessimists define happiness as the lack of fear, pain, stress, etc.
Optimists define happiness as the existence of cheer, celebration, achievement.
In all other ways the are the same. People who delude themselves that breaking a plate is good fortune, or that winning $500 in the lottery is ill fortune, are just imbeciles, regardless of their pessimist/optimist affiliation.
>>577117
It feels like you are narrowing the definitions of some very broad concepts.
>>577082
Throw away your books; stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now, despise your flesh.
. . .
Think of it this way: You are an old man. Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.
>>577122
I am just reminding you that the popular definition of optimist is happy idiot, while that of pessimist is sad idiot.
In fact these terms arent used to describe varieties of idiots, but rather varieties of understanding on what happiness means.
>>577094
What a completely retarded misreading. Not everyone is some twitter narcissist
>>577125
Quit your job and go fuck school girls and do coke.
t. Marco Aurelio
>>577138
I belive the popular definition is "focusing on the good" and "focusing on the bad", for optimism and pessimism respectively.
Mostly they describe general tendencies, not specific worldviews.
>>577184
Focusing on the good in a bad situation is stupid.
Focusing on the bad in a good situation is stupid.
Being glad that at least its not raining when your car gets damaged in the middle of nowhere on your way to your graduation exam is stupid.
In the same way being angry that your uncle is telling racist jokes on your otherwise perfect wedding is stupid.
These terms nowadays whenever used describe flavors of stupidity, and it shouldnt be so. They can easily be reclaimed.
>"Farewell my Fronto, wherever you are, my most sweet love and delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are not here"
Did Marcus and Fronto have a sexual relationship, not uncommon during those times between a tutor and a student?
